The Bizarre Day In History When One Missouri City Went From Spanish To French American

Right in the heart of our country, Missouri is filled with fascinating history that’s intriguing to all. While the majority of us have experienced our own set of 24 hours that were memorably odd in the Show-Me State, there’s one particular day in history that was considerably more unusual than the rest. Taking you all the way back to the 1800s is Three Flags Day.

After the Louisiana Purchase deal was made between the French and the United States, our country doubled in size.

After the deal went through, it took months for all of the needed arrangements to be made. Over the course of the summer and fall, money changed hands and Congress signed the needed papers to put everything into place.

An original Americanizing ceremony was held in the territory's capital of New Orleans, but because it was during the winter in the 1800s those living north of New Orleans didn't hear about the change until significantly after it had taken place. It would later be decided that in March of 1804, a second ceremony would be held in St. Louis.

Unfortunately, the next issue at hand would be that the Spanish had yet to actually give up the territory of St. Louis!

It was quickly realized that in order to turn over the territory's new American identity, that two treaties would need to be put into effect, one at a time. First, the land would be transferred from the Spanish to the French, with the French then transferring the land to the United States afterwards.

On March 8th, 1804 the Spanish Governor of St. Louis posted a notice on the city's church door informing everyone in the area of the major switch in power that was about to take place.

After the announcement was made, the next day on March 9th the Spanish flag came down in St. Louis and the French flag went up to fly high. Because so many of the residents living in the area had French roots, excitement enthused as the flag waved in the air. The French flag was originally due to stay up for six hours, but because of all the excitement they allowed it to fly until noon the following day.

On March 10th, the French flag came down with the new American Flag rising up in town. Sadly, the American flag didn't cause as much of a friendly frenzy as the French one did. Now you know the story of why we refer to March 10th as Three Flags Day!